Max Verstappen had to settle for sixth place during the sprint race for the Dutch GP on Saturday. The home hero could not gain any positions in the rather uninspiring Saturday event. Rain might have shaken up the field, but the sky only opened up during the cooldown lap above Zandvoort. Verstappen – usually a master in the rain – was secretly quite happy about that.
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“I’m glad it didn’t rain,” he responded at Viaplay. “That only causes chaos and in a sprint race I’m not willing to risk that.” Verstappen was on Oscar Piastri’s tail in the final stages, but an overtaking move did not materialize. Overtaking proved difficult on the dune circuit anyway; in the top 10 only Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc managed to gain one position. “Piastri had problems with the rear of his car,” Verstappen said. “But you can’t overtake here, so it was a tough story anyway – I was a bit stuck.”
‘They drove away easily’
“There wasn’t much going on,” the Red Bull driver reflected further. “Of course, I couldn’t keep up the pace over one lap, that was normal. They drove away quite easily,” he referred to the frontrunners. George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris led the field.
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“It was positive that we had tire degradation reasonably under control,” Verstappen reported positively. “From free practice to qualifying the car was already a bit better. After that, of course, we couldn’t adjust anything. We’re now going to try a few things to find a bit more performance over one lap. Because that gap is still big.”
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Read everything here about the Dutch GP in Zandvoort
